


[Fandom Stats] Percentage of fandoms in particular categories of FanFiction.net, comparing 2009 and 2020 Data + analysis.

by Qem



Category: Fandom - Fandom
Genre: Data - Freeform, Fandom Research, Fandom Statistics, Fandom history, Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Graphs, Math Kink, Mathematics, Meta, Nonfiction, Numbers Are Pretty, Shiny Graphs, So Many Numbers, numbers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:29:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27675395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qem/pseuds/Qem
Summary: Chapter 1:Analysis of FanFiction.net main categories with the number of fandoms contained within with % of fandoms in different categories from 2009 being compared against 2020.Chapter 2:Analysis of FanFiction.net miscellaneous category and spread of fanworks contained within, comparing data from 2009 to 2020.Chapter 3:Top 20 fandoms of FanFiction.net comparisons between 2009 and 2020 Data.Chapter 4:Author Opinions about “why do you think that might be?"
Relationships: Author/Maths
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1: Percentage of fandoms in particular categories of FanFiction.net over time.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percentage of fandoms in particular categories of FanFiction.net over time.

**Introduction & Goal:**

For various reasons, I was looking at the 2010 Graph of fandoms by category on FanFiction.net and I thought it might be interesting to do an update by comparing them. The inspiration was an older graph located here: [ Fanlore 2010 Fandoms by Media Type ](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Fanfiction.net#/media/File:FFN_fandomsbymediatype.png08) and specifically part of this page: [ FanLore FanFiction.net Page ](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Fanfiction.net%22) . After generating a new chart, I was then curious about what the original numbers were in the 2010 chart, since they were not present and also rounded by percentage in the graph; so I built a second chart based on stats from 2009 I was able to obtain.

**Graphs:**

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/191116600@N06/50618008113/in/dateposted-public/)  
[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/191116600@N06/50618008058/in/dateposted-public/)

**Methodology:**

The numbers I was using was from the categories index on FanFiction.net, located on the front page.

I ignored the crossover categories since that should be in theory just duplicating things.

Category

| 

Number of Fandoms November 2020

| 

November 2020 % of Fandoms

| 

Fanlore % listing (likely 2010 and rounded.)

| 

Number of fandoms October 2009

| 

October 2009 % of fandoms  
  
---|---|---|---|---|---  
  
Anime

| 

2081

| 

17.31%

| 

19

| 

812

| 

18.93%  
  
Books

| 

2528

| 

21.03%

| 

21

| 

873

| 

20.35%  
  
Cartoons

| 

634

| 

5.27%

| 

6

| 

278

| 

6.48%  
  
Comics

| 

300

| 

2.50%

| 

2

| 

97

| 

2.26%  
  
Games

| 

1623

| 

13.50%

| 

12

| 

542

| 

12.64%  
  
Misc

| 

42

| 

0.35%

| 

0.7

| 

30

| 

0.70%  
  
Movies

| 

2202

| 

18.32%

| 

18

| 

745

| 

17.37%  
  
Plays

| 

197

| 

1.64%

| 

1.5

| 

63

| 

1.47%  
  
TV

| 

2412

| 

20.07%

| 

20

| 

849

| 

19.79%  
  
| 

| 

| 

| 

|   
  
Total

| 

12019

| 

| 

| 

4289

|   
  
**Notes:**

Overall the percentages are pretty similar only going up or down 2% at most. 

Please note this just reflects the number of fandoms, not the number of works in those fandoms.

Interesting note on miscellaneous - some of what it currently includes are also crossover tags, such as Buffy X-Overs and DragonBall/Sailor Moon, which has over 1.1 k of work that display in the default index*. However, as this wasn't in the separate crossover category I still counted these known crossover fandoms that were located in miscellaneous for consistency.

To clarify, the miscellaneous category also includes categories such as  [ Manhwa/Korean Comics/만화 ](https://www.fanfiction.net/misc/Manhwa-Korean-Comics-%EB%A7%8C%ED%99%94/) (2K) and [ Misc. Anime/Manga ](https://www.fanfiction.net/misc/Misc-Anime-Manga/) (8.9K) so the overall number of fandoms on FanFiction.net is much higher than what is reflected in the "official number" of fandoms, but there is no simple way to see what is reflected in these bulk categories.

*In regards to the default indexes on FanFiction.net, in my personal experience there’s usually more fanworks if you look more closely, as while FF.net does allow mature work (but not explicit), the mature works are usually automatically filtered out of displaying in searches unless you explicitly modify the filter and are not displaying in the default counts even if they are still hosted.

**Conclusions:**

It is uncanny the similarity in the percentages and how little they've changed in proportions on FanFiction.net.

Although the raw numbers I’m working with are quite different the individual category percentages are all within 2% of their original values. This despite the 180.23% increase in the number of fandoms on FanFiction.net from 2009, with the total number of fandoms nearly tripling in size.

(In October 2009 there were only 4289 fandoms, whereas currently in November 2020 there are 12019; if excluding the crossover categories that aren’t in miscellaneous.)

The author was asked about their opinions, which they’ll go into in chapter 4 - however first, some hypotheses and breakdowns.


	2. Hypothesis: Miscellaneous Category is offloading some of the FanFiction.net fandom creation needs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Investigate the hypothesis that the Miscellaneous Category is offloading some of the FanFiction.net fandom creation needs

**Hypothesis**

  * Investigate if the similarity in fandom counts may be related to the miscellaneous category offloading some of the pressure for new fandom creation, with large categories covering potentially many fandoms.



**Graphs:**

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/191116600@N06/50651680736/in/dateposted-public/)  
[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/191116600@N06/50650929583/in/dateposted-public/)  
[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/191116600@N06/50651772437/in/dateposted-public/)

**Miscellaneous Break Down of Fandoms**

**Numbers**

2020 Ranking

| 

2020 Data

| 

2020 Numbers from[ FF.net](http://ff.net/)

| 

In K

| 

2020 Rounded Total

| 

% of Misc in 2020

| 

% increase for 2020 of fanworks from 2009  
  
---|---|---|---|---|---|---  
  
1

| 

Wrestling

| 

43.8K

| 

43.8

| 

43800

| 

17.92%

| 

120.61%  
  
2

| 

Misc. Books

| 

25.1K

| 

25.1

| 

25100

| 

10.27%

| 

207.26%  
  
3

| 

Vocaloid

| 

20.6K

| 

20.6

| 

20600

| 

8.43%

| 

3180.25%  
  
4

| 

X-overs

| 

18.9K

| 

18.9

| 

18900

| 

7.73%

| 

127.33%  
  
5

| 

Misc. Plays/Musicals

| 

17.5K

| 

17.5

| 

17500

| 

7.16%

| 

127.45%  
  
6

| 

Web Shows

| 

14.3K

| 

14.3

| 

14300

| 

5.85%

| 

#N/A  
  
7

| 

Misc. Tv Shows

| 

11.9K

| 

11.9

| 

11900

| 

4.87%

| 

275.16%  
  
8

| 

Anime X-overs

| 

9.7K

| 

9.7

| 

9700

| 

3.97%

| 

30.11%  
  
9

| 

Misc. Movies

| 

9.7K

| 

9.7

| 

9700

| 

3.97%

| 

93.11%  
  
10

| 

Misc. Anime/Manga

| 

8.9K

| 

8.9

| 

8900

| 

3.64%

| 

115.03%  
  
11

| 

Misc. Games

| 

6.8K

| 

6.8

| 

6800

| 

2.78%

| 

353.94%  
  
12

| 

Mythology

| 

5.2K

| 

5.2

| 

5200

| 

2.13%

| 

785.86%  
  
13

| 

Parodies and Spoofs

| 

4.7K

| 

4.7

| 

4700

| 

1.92%

| 

97.81%  
  
14

| 

Buffy X-overs

| 

4.2K

| 

4.2

| 

4200

| 

1.72%

| 

-11.58%  
  
15

| 

Book X-overs

| 

4K

| 

4000

| 

4000

| 

1.64%

| 

40.89%  
  
16

| 

Greek Mythology

| 

3.8K

| 

3.8

| 

3800

| 

1.55%

| 

219.60%  
  
17

| 

Misc. Cartoons

| 

3.5K

| 

3.5

| 

3500

| 

1.43%

| 

173.44%  
  
18

| 

Cartoon X-overs

| 

3.4K

| 

3.4

| 

3400

| 

1.39%

| 

5.23%  
  
19

| 

Sailor Moon X-overs

| 

3.1K

| 

3.1

| 

3100

| 

1.27%

| 

-7.74%  
  
20

| 

Misc. Comics

| 

2.7K

| 

2.7

| 

2700

| 

1.10%

| 

247.94%  
  
21

| 

Game X-overs

| 

2.5K

| 

2.5

| 

2500

| 

1.02%

| 

42.37%  
  
22

| 

Red vs. Blue

| 

2.5K

| 

2.5

| 

2500

| 

1.02%

| 

#N/A  
  
23

| 

Gundam Wing/Sailor Moon

| 

2.4K

| 

2.4

| 

2400

| 

0.98%

| 

-7.08%  
  
24

| 

Marching Band

| 

2K

| 

2000

| 

2000

| 

0.82%

| 

26.50%  
  
25

| 

Manhwa/Korean Comics/만화

| 

2K

| 

2000

| 

2000

| 

0.82%

| 

8595.65%  
  
26

| 

TV X-overs

| 

2.0K

| 

2

| 

2000

| 

0.82%

| 

3.36%  
  
27

| 

Radio Dramas

| 

1.9K

| 

1.9

| 

1900

| 

0.78%

| 

3292.86%  
  
28

| 

Movie X-overs

| 

1.2K

| 

1.2

| 

1200

| 

0.49%

| 

15.61%  
  
29

| 

ManHua/Chinese Comics/漫画

| 

1.2K

| 

1.2

| 

1200

| 

0.49%

| 

5117.39%  
  
30

| 

Final Fantasy X-overs

| 

1.1K

| 

1.1

| 

1100

| 

0.45%

| 

2.90%  
  
31

| 

Dragon Ball Z/Sailor Moon

| 

1.1K

| 

1.1

| 

1100

| 

0.45%

| 

-0.54%  
  
32

| 

Digimon/Pokemon

| 

1.1K

| 

1.1

| 

1100

| 

0.45%

| 

150.00%  
  
33

| 

Norse Mythology

| 

380

| 

380

| 

380

| 

0.16%

| 

#N/A  
  
34

| 

Japanese Mythology

| 

246

| 

246

| 

246

| 

0.10%

| 

#N/A  
  
35

| 

SCP Foundation Mythos

| 

235

| 

235

| 

235

| 

0.10%

| 

#N/A  
  
36

| 

Hypnosis Mic/ヒプノシスマイク

| 

198

| 

198

| 

198

| 

0.08%

| 

#N/A  
  
37

| 

Welcome to Night Vale

| 

180

| 

180

| 

180

| 

0.07%

| 

#N/A  
  
38

| 

Egyptian Mythology

| 

149

| 

149

| 

149

| 

0.06%

| 

#N/A  
  
39

| 

Sanrio

| 

99

| 

99

| 

99

| 

0.04%

| 

#N/A  
  
40

| 

Canaanite Mythology

| 

36

| 

36

| 

36

| 

0.01%

| 

#N/A  
  
41

| 

Finnish Mythology

| 

33

| 

33

| 

33

| 

0.01%

| 

#N/A  
  
42

| 

Estonian Mythology

| 

18

| 

18

| 

18

| 

0.01%

| 

#N/A  
  
  
  


2009 Ranking

| 

2009 Data

| 

2009 numbers from[ ff.net](http://ff.net/)

| 

% of Misc in 2009  
  
---|---|---|---  
  
1

| 

Wrestling

| 

19,854

| 

20.27%  
  
3

| 

Misc. Books

| 

8,169

| 

8.34%  
  
25

| 

Vocaloid

| 

628

| 

0.64%  
  
2

| 

X-overs

| 

8,314

| 

8.49%  
  
4

| 

Misc. Plays/Musicals

| 

7,694

| 

7.86%  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
11

| 

Misc. Tv Shows

| 

3,172

| 

3.24%  
  
5

| 

Anime X-overs

| 

7,455

| 

7.61%  
  
6

| 

Misc. Movies

| 

5,023

| 

5.13%  
  
8

| 

Misc. Anime/Manga

| 

4,139

| 

4.23%  
  
18

| 

Misc. Games

| 

1,498

| 

1.53%  
  
26

| 

Mythology

| 

587

| 

0.60%  
  
14

| 

Parodies and Spoofs

| 

2,376

| 

2.43%  
  
7

| 

Buffy X-overs

| 

4,750

| 

4.85%  
  
12

| 

Book X-overs

| 

2,839

| 

2.90%  
  
20

| 

Greek Mythology

| 

1,189

| 

1.21%  
  
19

| 

Misc. Cartoons

| 

1,280

| 

1.31%  
  
10

| 

Cartoon X-overs

| 

3,231

| 

3.30%  
  
9

| 

Sailor Moon X-overs

| 

3,360

| 

3.43%  
  
24

| 

Misc. Comics

| 

776

| 

0.79%  
  
16

| 

Game X-overs

| 

1,756

| 

1.79%  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
13

| 

Gundam Wing/Sailor Moon

| 

2,583

| 

2.64%  
  
17

| 

Marching Band

| 

1,581

| 

1.61%  
  
30

| 

Manhwa/Korean Comics/만화

| 

23

| 

0.02%  
  
15

| 

TV X-overs

| 

1,935

| 

1.98%  
  
28

| 

Radio Dramas

| 

56

| 

0.06%  
  
23

| 

Movie X-overs

| 

1,038

| 

1.06%  
  
29

| 

ManHua/Chinese Comics/漫画

| 

23

| 

0.02%  
  
22

| 

Final Fantasy X-overs

| 

1,069

| 

1.09%  
  
21

| 

Dragon Ball Z/Sailor Moon

| 

1,106

| 

1.13%  
  
27

| 

Digimon/Pokemon

| 

440

| 

0.45%  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A

| 

#N/A  
  
**Notes:**

Total number of works in a fandom did go down for several fandoms in this data set. It may have gone down for the following reasons:

  1. Rounding, previously exact numbers were shown where as now it’s to the nearest 100 in the fandom is larger than 1000 works.
  2. Default filters hiding M rated works from the counts, which may not have been the case previously.
  3. Deletion of fic either by users or other reasons. Please see [Fanlore: FanFiction.Net's NC-17 Purges: 2002 and 2012](https://fanlore.org/wiki/FanFiction.Net%27s_NC-17_Purges:_2002_and_2012) for more information.



The author did not investigate further to find the cause.

**Conclusions:**

The miscellaneous category shows significantly more variation in changes with new sub-categories being added ( e.g. - Web Shows), which could potentially prevent new fandoms from being created or represented on FanFiction.net. The proportions of these categories change significantly overall, though some fandoms remain similar in proportions such as Wrestling. 

This is quite likely one potential cause of the limited variation in overall category proportions, with some categories moving around significantly in comparison to others and new categories such as web shows showing significant growth.

It is hard to say specifically what would have changed in the broader spectrum of FanFiction.net fandoms, since a fandom in miscellaneous may reflect “one” fandom (an example is Welcome to Nightvale, which is a podcast audio drama), or it may reflect many fandoms with unclear breakdowns. For example, ManHua/Chinese Comics has at least 11 distinct fandoms* but could also contain hundreds of fandoms with only one work each and no further way of filtering

Interestingly, the “X-Overs” fandom appears to remain similarly popular holding steady at 8% of the Miscellaneous category; with approximately 127.7% increase in fanworks, despite the prevalence of the crossover categories which unlike in October 2009, are now well-established. The crossover categories that display on the front page were originally added in March 2009^. In contrast, the “Anime X-Overs” fandom has hardly grown at all, with approximately 29.3% increase in fanworks and decreasing from 8% to 4% of the Miscellaneous category representation and some of the specific crossovers such as Gundam/Sailor Moon have shrunk with the total number of fanworks. 

* Noted distinct fandoms under ManHua/Chinese Comics include: 1/2 Prince, 19 Days, Coiling Dragon, Fox Spirit Matchmaker, Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Legend of the Sun Knight, Soul Land, Tales of Demons and Gods, The King's Avatar, The One, and Their Story are currently available as “character” filtering - hence the 11 number. There are at least another four fandoms, with the author manually finding Douluo Dalu, Heaven Official's Blessing, Huang Li Shi and Those Years I Opened a Zoo as another four fandoms in this category; so while it is likely not “hundreds” , this does provide distinct evidence that there are at least some uncounted fandoms where it would be difficult to prove or disprove their existence on Fanfiction.net.

^  [ FanFiction.net Wikipedia page ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FanFiction.Net)


	3. Investigate Hypothesis: the FanFiction.net’s fanbase is stable and draws the same kind of proportions of people

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hypothesis: investigate if the FanFiction.net’s fanbase is stable and draws the same kind of proportions of people. To analyse this, a comparison of the 20 largest fandoms was made, as this data is easily available by work other people have done on Wikipedia.

**Hypothesis:** investigate if the FanFiction.net’s fanbase is stable and draws the same kind of proportions of people. To analyse this, a comparison of the 20 largest fandoms was made, as this data is easily available by work other people have done on Wikipedia. 

Note: Much of the statistics here are drawn from the [ FanFiction.net Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FanFiction.Net) and have been copied here for purposes of research.

October 2009 Popular Fandoms  
  
---  
  
**Rank**

| 

**Fandom**

| 

**Category**

| 

**No. of stories**  
  
1

| 

Harry Potter

| 

Books

| 

427,903  
  
2

| 

Naruto

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

212,835  
  
3

| 

Twilight

| 

Books

| 

113,502  
  
4

| 

Inuyasha

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

89,694  
  
5

| 

Yu-Gi-Oh

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

49,244  
  
6

| 

Kingdom Hearts

| 

Games

| 

46,854  
  
7

| 

Lord of the Rings

| 

Books

| 

42,605  
  
8

| 

Gundam Wing/AC

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

40,074  
  
9

| 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

| 

TV Shows

| 

37,053  
  
10

| 

Bleach

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

32,876  
  
11

| 

Digimon

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

32,362  
  
12

| 

Dragon Ball Z

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

31,230  
  
13

| 

Sailor Moon

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

30,699  
  
14

| 

Supernatural

| 

TV Shows

| 

29,078  
  
15

| 

Final Fantasy VII

| 

Games

| 

28,832  
  
16

| 

Fullmetal Alchemist

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

28,716  
  
17

| 

Pokémon

| 

Games

| 

27,846  
  
18

| 

Teen Titans

| 

Cartoons

| 

24,405  
  
19

| 

CSI

| 

TV Shows

| 

24,001  
  
20

| 

Card Captor Sakura

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

23,160  
  
  
  


**September 2020 Popular Fandoms**

|   
---|---  
  
**Rank**

| 

**Fandom**

| 

**Category**

| 

**No. of stories**

| 

Previously?  
  
1

| 

[_Harry Potter_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter)

| 

Books

| 

825K

| 

Yes  
  
2

| 

[_Naruto_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naruto)

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

432K

| 

Yes  
  
3

| 

[_Twilight_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_\(novel_series\))

| 

Books

| 

221K

| 

Yes  
  
4

| 

[_Supernatural_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural_\(U.S._TV_series\))

| 

TV Shows

| 

126K

| 

Yes  
  
5

| 

[_Hetalia: Axis Powers_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetalia:_Axis_Powers)

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

120K

| 

No  
  
6

| 

[_Inuyasha_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuyasha)

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

120K

| 

Yes  
  
7

| 

[_Glee_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glee_\(TV_series\))

| 

TV Shows

| 

108K

| 

No  
  
8

| 

[_Pokémon_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon)

| 

Games

| 

99.5K

| 

Yes  
  
9

| 

[_Bleach_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach_\(manga\))

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

85.5K

| 

Yes  
  
10

| 

[_Percy Jackson and the Olympians_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Jackson_and_the_Olympians)

| 

Books

| 

78.1K

| 

No  
  
11

| 

[_Doctor Who_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who)

| 

TV Shows

| 

76.1K

| 

No  
  
12

| 

[_Kingdom Hearts_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Hearts)

| 

Games

| 

74.5K

| 

Yes  
  
13

| 

[_Yu-Gi-Oh!_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!)

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

68.3K

| 

Yes  
  
14

| 

[_Fairy Tail_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_Tail)

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

67.9K

| 

No  
  
15

| 

[_Sherlock_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_\(TV_series\))

| 

TV Shows

| 

60.1K

| 

No  
  
16

| 

[_Lord of the Rings_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Rings)

| 

Books

| 

57.6K

| 

Yes  
  
17

| 

[_Star Wars_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars)

| 

Movies

| 

55.3K

| 

No  
  
18

| 

[_Dragon Ball Z_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z)

| 

Anime/Manga

| 

53.4K

| 

Yes  
  
19

| 

[_Once Upon a Time_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_\(TV_series\))

| 

TV Shows

| 

52.7K

| 

No  
  
20

| 

[_Buffy the Vampire Slayer_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer_\(TV_series\))

| 

TV Shows

| 

50.6K

| 

Yes  
  
  
  


**Transformative Data - how many remained in top 20:**

Fandoms that stayed in top 20?

|   
---|---  
  
Yes

| 

12  
  
No

| 

8  
  
**Category Breakdown:**

| 

# 2020 Top 20

| 

# 2009 Top 20  
  
---|---|---  
  
Anime/Manga

| 

7

| 

10  
  
Books

| 

4

| 

3  
  
Cartoons

| 

0

| 

1  
  
Comics

| 

0

| 

0  
  
Games

| 

2

| 

3  
  
Misc

| 

0

| 

0  
  
Movies

| 

1

| 

0  
  
Plays

| 

0

| 

0  
  
TV Shows

| 

6

| 

3  
  
|  |   
|  |   
| 

20

| 

20  
  
  
  
**Conclusion:**

There is some variation with Anime and Cartoons now as they are less represented in the top 20. TV Shows and Books are also now better represented. This matches the small variation of percentages in categories.

While overall rankings changed significantly outside of the top three fandoms, more than half of the top 20 fandoms were able to remain in the top 20 - which is a much more dramatic variation than the original graphs of total number of fandoms by categories, is still relatively stable compared to the Miscellaneous category. The author noted that there were not many “new” fandoms that debutted after 2009 being included in 2020 (Glee [2009], Sherlock [2010], Once Upon a Time [2011]) . In comparison the top fandoms on ao3 in 2017:  [ https://archiveofourown.org/works/16851121 ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16851121) included a much higher percentage of “new” fandoms with the same new ones as FanFiction.net and inclusion of several others.

This indicates that there is likely a large base of people remaining stable and continuing to enjoy the same favourite fandoms on FanFiction.net though there is still some variation occurring, with people changing fandoms or moving on.

A larger drawing of statistics would need to be done to draw firmer conclusions.


	4. Personal Notes & Opinions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Personal Notes & Opinions

**Raw Stat Numbers:**

A copy of the numbers is available here:  [ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NnvgO0GwSvEd-BVNBpW-Naji3dPmoR1taIkJxVAWnks/edit#gid=0 ](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NnvgO0GwSvEd-BVNBpW-Naji3dPmoR1taIkJxVAWnks/edit#gid=0)

  
  


**Personal Notes & Opinions:**

I’ve tried to post up numbers to establish the basis for my opinion as to “why do you think that might be?”, which is of course subjective to my own personal experience and bias. I don’t think an exact answer can be given without  acquiring significantly more data, which is out of scope for the author.

It’s my personal opinion that this is a reflection of a user base that was already stable at the time of the initial data collection. (FanFiction.net was established in 1998^, making 2009 exactly a halfway point to now, as it had been running for 11 years before the 2009 data and already had very large numbers of fanworks hosted.) It has potentially collected many of the same types of users, with users who are interested in other types of fandoms preferring to use other websites in addition to/instead of FanFiction.net and users who fall  into similar patterns as the original user base joining in similar proportions. In my experience, generally websites tend to show the most dramatic changes in categories and similar “groupings” such as genres as they are establishing their user base; as well as when there are large migrations of users either joining the site or leaving the site.

^ [ FanFiction.net Wikipedia page ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FanFiction.Net)

I also think that the way the miscellaneous category has been implemented on FanFiction.net has reduced the need for creating independent fandoms  by collecting many different kinds of fandoms  into one . Basically the miscellaneous category is masking some of the variation that occurs with particular rises and falls in popularity of different  media over time, in addition to being a stopping point for these types of fandoms to become well-established. (It is not the author’s opinion that this is an automatic correlation with miscellaneous categories, only that this has contributed in this particular case.)

Note, I’m not particularly interested in comparing FanFiction.net with other websites as it would be impossible to cover the full diversity of fandom with the many countries and websites involved. FanFiction.net is a large, well established website that definitely suits a number of users in different fandoms  very well . There is no one website that defines all of fandom, rather many sites and distinct traditions help make up the macrocosm of fandom. Additionally, not all websites provide easy access to “numbers” so it can be harder to compare. (An example of the diversity of archives is available here:  [ https://fanlore.org/wiki/Category:Archives ](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Category:Archives) ,  though it should be noted  that this is biased towards English Language archives.)

That being said, it should be noted that not all types of fandoms are welcome on FanFiction.net (e.g. - RPF was banned in 2003) and there are no notable song or music categories - possibly to decrease interest in songfic which is banned. Additionally, this potentially also keeps the overly zealous music industry at bay, which is well known for abusing take down notices (author opinion, citation needed; but FanFiction.net does ban fandoms where the Author or Copyright Holder has requested that they not be hosted). While the Miscellaneous category does provide a potential home for more fandoms, it seems like it would be hard for new fandoms to grow there. (Though it should also be noted that it is indeed possible, as Vocaloid demonstrates with it’s 3180.25% increase in fanworks. [Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer with a series of programs that have distinct characters associated with particular voices.])

Even fandoms that are allowed do not always necessarily become popular on FanFiction.net due to other factors. For example, the author was surprised to find Welcome To Night Vale has only 120 works on FanFiction.net but has been (possibly is still?) quite popular on other websites such as Tumblr, and has thousands of fanworks works located elsewhere.^)

  
^ [Fanlore: Welcome to Night Vale](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Welcome_to_Night_Vale)

This means that the audience of these types of fandoms would not be represented on FanFiction.net and any overlapping fandom interests and corresponding changes could not be reflected on FanFiction.net. Additionally, explicit works are not allowed on FanFiction.net which in turn will affect what kind of fandoms might be attracted to FanFiction.net by  its users.

But I do think that it is quite interesting to note the specifics that reflect large populations of fandom members, and I’ve found it fascinating to see the changes or lack thereof, when it comes to “category” proportions on FanFiction.net as well as which fandoms remained in the top 20 fandoms on FanFiction.net.

  
  


**Credits:**   
Much thanks to everyone who has worked on the Fanlore and Wikipedia articles referenced here. You are invaluable with your contributions to recording fandom history!


End file.
